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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Will We See UUCA Reforms?

The University and University Colleges Act (1971), and its much awaited amendments is one of the few questions which has been asked frequently by parliamentarians in the current sitting. Off my head, I remember reading the standard answers received by Sdri Fong Po Kuan of Batu Gajah as well as Nurul Izzah Anwar of Lembah Pantai.

The question by BATU GAJAH was to asking the Minister of Higher Education

While reforms to the AUKU (UUCA) has been mooted since 2 years ago, the progress of the proposed amendments has been painstakingly slow. There has been requests in the Parliment to first review what the Ministry plans to change before tabling the amended bill, but this has been rejected by the Minister on the basis that consultation has already been conducted.

It is also obvious from the tone of the answer above that political participation will remain a no-go for students, and likely academics. The funny bit however, is with the excuse that it's the parents who are objecting to their participation as it may cause the students to fail their studies.

The excuse is however, almost laughable because:

Just because there are parents objecting to certain activities in school does not mean that they should be forcibly outlawed (we are not talking about immoral activities here)

If these students will fail in their studies, it doesn't take political activities to do so, it can very well be anything else from sports, to lepaking, to boy-girl relationships etc.

As Dr Azmi Sharom mentioned in his earlier articles, allowing for political participation isn't going to create a huge demand for such events in schools. Malaysian students today are apathetic enough as it is without the need for laws to make them so.

What increased freedom will create however is a more aware set of students who will understand better what is happening in their society and country, increasing their civic mindedness and ultimately being more attached to the idea of making Malaysia a better place for everyone.

Well, the next parliamentary session starts at the end of June, so we wouldn't have to wait too long to hear what the Higher Education Minister have got to say ;-)

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

It is interesting to know that it was Dr M that curbed the freedoms of expression at universities. It is also interesting to know that not too long ago during his reign English, Mandarin and anything faintly resembling anything from the West or North was prohibited including the limitation of Mandarin organges during CNY. I remember of being scolded at public facilities whenever I spoke in English and was made to speak BM. Thus, really now you see the clock for development being set backwards and the non-speaking countries in Asia catching up or surpassed us because there was no hangup about English as being a colonial tongue like Dr M had. Further, Dr M would wage arguments with anyone that disagreed with him whether it was right or wrong thus dampening much needed healthy discourse and debate at universities. I think he didn't want people to be clever and to follow his every word.

Malaysian students generally are:1) timid, keeping to themselves2) unable to produce original, lateral thinking answers3) prefer to be spoon fed4) worse still, look at some that end up in civil service & thei mentality

in short, non-proactive and non-critical thinking

that's why we should have debating as a module in secondary school studies and story telling in primary level. Not too much weightage, like 10% to 15%, so that we can make our students take time to devote part of their time to learn to think and talk outloud.

Knowing the A chasers' dedication for prefection, it will bring the real best out in the open. We have too many all As SPM students nowdays and we have to find a way to split hairline, in this case, more rounded individuals from great book crunches

What d'u think? I think Teo Nie Ching benefitted from debating in school